An electrical wire-feed arc-welding system utilizes an arc-welding gun which an operator or robot grasps to direct a welding arc onto a workpiece. Welding rod is fed through the gun to a welding tip which is surrounded by an open cylindrical nozzle. An inert gas such as argon is directed through the nozzle, around the welding tip, and over the welding surface of the workpiece to provide a suitable inert atmosphere to exclude oxygen from the weld being formed by the electric arc and weld wire.
As welding progresses, weld wire particles are thrown from the arc and accumulate on the welding tip and the surrounding nozzle. The particles, referred to as welding splatter, tend, to, over time, block the proper flow of inert gas through the gas cavity, and eventually adversely affect the quality of the weld. Spray or paste-like anti-adhesive compounds are often applied to the welding tip and nozzle to prevent this buildup; however, these compounds are usually not completely effective, tending only to reduce the amount and rate of buildup rather than to completely eliminate it. Thus, even when using anti-adhesive compound, accumulated welding splatter must be periodically cleaned from the arc-welding gun.
To overcome this problem, operators have devised various ways to remove welding splatter from the welding gun. One simple method is to scrape the surfaces with the end of a screwdriver or similar tool. Unfortunately, this method is awkward and inefficient-more seriously, it can easily damage the welding gun.
Rotating cutter blades have also been used to remove welding splatter. The blades extend into the nozzle to scrape welding splatter from the surfaces of the welding tip and nozzle. See the Bridges et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,257 and the Thielmann U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,195. Unfortunately, very precise positioning of the gun relative to the rotating blades is required, making hand operation, as well as operation with some robots, somewhat impractical or impossible. Any misalignment during cleaning can destroy the welding tip and nozzle.
The applicant has sought to improve the operation of arc-welding gun cleaning tools and has invented such a tool which is more efficient and versatile than previous cleaning tools. In addition, the applicant has provided an arc-welding gun cleaning tool which can be inexpensively manufactured and which can be conveniently used in both hand and robot operations.